U.S. patent number 7,254,777 [Application Number 10/287,411] was granted by the patent office on 2007-08-07 for system and method for controlling the recording functionality of an appliance using a program guide.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Universal Electronics Inc.. Invention is credited to Paul D. Arling, Patrick H. Hayes, Robert P. Lilleness.
United States Patent |
7,254,777 |
Hayes , et al. |
August 7, 2007 |
System and method for controlling the recording functionality of an
appliance using a program guide
Abstract
A system and method for displaying an electronic program guide
and for remotely controlling the recording functionality of an
appliance. A user registers with a Web site to enable the
downloading of an electronic program guide ("EPG") to a portable
device. The downloaded and displayable EPG includes a listing of
programs from which the user may select a program of interest. In
response to receiving input from the user requesting that the
program be recorded, data indicative of the recording request is
stored in the portable device. Then, when it is determined that the
portable device is able to establish communication with the
appliance (either directly or via an intermediate PC), the data
indicative to the recording request is provided to the appliance to
effect the recording of the program.
Inventors: |
Hayes; Patrick H. (Mission
Viejo, CA), Arling; Paul D. (Irvine, CA), Lilleness;
Robert P. (Newport Beach, CA) |
Assignee: |
Universal Electronics Inc.
(Cypress, CA)
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Family
ID: |
26993726 |
Appl.
No.: |
10/287,411 |
Filed: |
November 4, 2002 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20030193519 A1 |
Oct 16, 2003 |
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Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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60372874 |
Apr 15, 2002 |
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60344020 |
Dec 20, 2001 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
715/734;
386/E5.043; 348/E5.105; 345/156 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N
5/782 (20130101); H04N 21/47214 (20130101); G08C
17/00 (20130101); H04N 21/47 (20130101); H04N
21/41407 (20130101); H04N 21/4126 (20130101); H04N
21/42204 (20130101); H04N 21/4227 (20130101); H04N
21/4135 (20130101); H04N 21/4143 (20130101); H04N
21/42207 (20130101); H04N 21/42209 (20130101); G08C
2201/42 (20130101); G08C 2201/91 (20130101); G08C
2201/93 (20130101); H04N 21/42224 (20130101); G08C
2201/21 (20130101); G08C 2201/30 (20130101); H04N
21/41265 (20200801); G08C 2201/92 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
15/00 (20060101); G06F 13/00 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;345/769,156,169
;348/734 ;725/44
;715/765,156,763,725,727,740,853,738,864,716,734,884,764,767 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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0561435 |
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Sep 1993 |
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EP |
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0967797 |
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Dec 1999 |
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EP |
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0987888 |
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Mar 2000 |
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EP |
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1204275 |
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May 2002 |
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EP |
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2343073 |
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Apr 2000 |
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GB |
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WO 00/21286 |
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Apr 2000 |
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WO |
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WO 00/40016 |
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Jul 2000 |
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WO |
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WO 00/58935 |
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Oct 2000 |
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WO |
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WO 01/20572 |
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Mar 2001 |
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WO |
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Other References
PRONTO User Guide, Universal Electronics Inc., 1999, pp. 1-56.
cited by other.
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Primary Examiner: Nguyen; Cao (Kevin)
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Jarosik; Gary R.
Parent Case Text
RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent
Application No. 60/372,874, filed on Apr. 15, 2002, which is
incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application
Ser. No. 60/344,020, filed on Dec. 20, 2001, which is incorporated
herein by reference in its entirety.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method performed in a portable device to enable a user to
effect recording of a program, the method comprising: displaying to
a user in a display of the portable device a program guide
including a listing for the program; in response to receiving input
from the user requesting that the program be recorded, storing in a
memory of the portable device data indicative of the recording
request; and causing the portable device to provide the data
indicative of the recording request stored in the memory to an
appliance capable of effecting a recording program in response to
the portable device establishing communication with the
appliance.
2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising displaying
a graphical user interface element by which the user can request
that the program be recorded.
3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the graphical user
interface element is displayed in a pop-up window that includes
information related to the program.
4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising downloading
the data indicative of the recording request to a personal computer
capable of communicating with the appliance.
5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising downloading
the data indicative of the recording request directly to the
appliance.
6. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising
establishing a wireless communication connection with the
appliance.
7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the wireless
communication connection utilizes RF transmissions.
8. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the wireless
communication connection utilizes IR transmissions.
9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising downloading
the program guide to the portable device from a server.
10. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising using user
registration information to determine the content within the
program guide.
11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the user
registration information comprises a geographic designator.
12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the geographic
designator comprises a zip code.
13. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the user
registration information comprises a selection of a service
provider.
14. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising displaying
a plurality of appliances and accepting input from the user
specifying one of the plurality of appliances to effect the
recording.
15. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the portable device
is a PDA.
16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the program guide
includes textual and graphical information.
17. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the appliance
comprises an appliance adapted to record the program on a magnetic
medium.
18. A readable media in a portable device having instruction for
enabling a user to effect recording of a program, the instructions
performing steps comprising: displaying to a user in a display of
the portable device a program guide including a listing for the
program; in response to receiving input from a user requesting that
the program be recorded, storing in a memory of the portable device
data indicative of the recording request; and causing the portable
device to provide the data indicative of the recording request
stored in the memory to an appliance capable of effecting a
recording of the program in response to the portable device
establishing communication with the appliance.
19. The readable media as recited in claim 18, wherein the
instructions further display a graphical user interface element by
which the user can request that the program be recorded.
20. The readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the
graphical user interface element is displayed in a pop-up window
that includes information related to the program.
21. The readable media as recited in claim 18, further comprising
instructions for downloading the data indicative of the recording
request to a personal computer capable of communicating with the
appliance.
22. The readable media as recited in claim 18, further comprising
instructions for downloading the data indicative of the recording
request directly to the appliance.
23. The readable media as recited in claim 22, wherein the
instructions establish a wireless communication connection with the
appliance.
24. The readable media as recited in claim 23, wherein the wireless
communication connection utilizes RF transmissions.
25. The readable media as recited in claim 23, wherein the wireless
communication connection utilizes IR transmissions.
26. The readable media as recited in claim 18, further comprising
instructions for downloading the program guide from a server.
27. The readable media as recited in claim 18, wherein the portable
device is a PDA.
28. The readable media as recited in claim 18, wherein the program
guide includes textual and graphical information.
29. The readable media as recited in claim 18, wherein the
appliance comprises an appliance adapted to record the program on a
magnetic medium.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention generally relates to electronic portable electronic
devices having a display and communication capabilities. Exemplary
devices include personal digital assistants ("PDAs"), Web Tablets,
touch screen remote controls, lap-top computers, and the like.
In the art it is known to provide a program guide feature whereby
data relating to current and/or future programming (television,
radio, Internet, or the like) is downloaded into a portable device
and stored for later browsing by the user. It is also known to
equip such portable devices with the ability to transmit remote
control signals (IR or RF) to change channels on a tuning device in
response to selection by a consumer of a displayed guide entry.
Where program guide data is presented not on the portable device
but rather on the TV set of a user, the program information being
supplied by a tuning device such as a cable or satellite set-top
box, it is also know to provide a feature whereby user selection of
a program item which is scheduled to be shown sometime in the
future results in the automatic recording of that program. This
type of automated recording is accomplished using capabilities that
are built-in to the appliance, for example, the capabilities
offered by TiVO, Replay TV, Ultimate TV, Keen Media, and others or,
for example, by control of the consumer's VCR via an "IR
blaster."
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the description that follows, a system and
method is provided for controlling the recording functionality of
an appliance using an electronic program guide displayed on an
electronic portable device. As will be appreciated, providing this
functionality to a portable device overcomes the disadvantages seen
in the prior art resulting from the fact that a consumer user is
not necessarily in front of their recording appliance when browsing
the program guide information. Rather, the consumer may be in
another room, another building (e.g. at work), or even in another
city.
To overcome this problem, the system and method described
hereinafter will accept the consumer's recording requests, store
them, and automatically convey them to a target recording apparatus
at a later time when the portable device is able to communicate
with the recording appliance. The communication may take the form
of docking the portable device with a computer that shares a home
network with a network-enabled appliance. e.g., a PVR such as
Sonicblue's ReplayTV 4000 brand system; via wireless communication
over a Personal Area Network implemented in the consumer's home
using, for example, Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11 networking, or via
direct interaction with a suitably-equipped target appliance once
the portable device and the appliance are in communication range.
This communication may also occur in any of the manners described
above but using the Internet or PSTN as an intermediary. In this
manner, the system and method described hereinafter provides a
consumer with the ability to browse and select program material for
future recording at any location and have these requests
automatically entered into his recording apparatus at some later
time when his portable device finds itself able to establish
communications with a target recording apparatus.
A better understanding of the objects, advantages, features,
properties and relationships of the invention will be obtained from
the following detailed description and accompanying drawings which
set forth an illustrative embodiment and which are indicative of
the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be
employed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
For a better understanding of the various aspects of the invention,
reference may be had to preferred embodiments shown in the attached
drawings in which:
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary portable device having a remote
control application for use in controlling the operation of home
appliances;
FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary screen shots of a graphical user
interface of the portable device of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary network by which program guide
information is downloadable to the portable device of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 illustrates a more detailed view of the network illustrated
in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 illustrates exemplary screen shots of a graphical user
interface of the portable device of FIG. 1 specifically
illustrating interaction with the downloaded program guide
information to effect automatic program recording;
FIGS. 6-11 illustrate exemplary networks by which the portable
device of FIG. 1 can be used to automatically enable the recording
function of a home appliance;
FIGS. 12-14 illustrate exemplary registration screens by which the
consumer can specify preferences for a downloaded program guide;
and
FIGS. 15 and 16 illustrate an exemplary program guide in which a
portion of the guide viewing area is locked.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
A portable device 10 having a universal remote control and program
guide application is provided. By way of example, representative
platforms for the device 10 include, but are not limited to,
devices such as remote controls, lap-top computers, Web Tablets
and/or PDAs manufactured by HP/Compaq (such as the iPAQ brand PDA),
Palm, Visor, Sony, etc. Thus, a preferred underlying platform
includes a processor coupled to a memory system comprising a
combination of ROM memory, non-volatile read/write memory, and RAM
memory (a memory system); a key matrix in the form of physical
buttons; an internal clock and timer; a transmission circuit; a
power supply; a touch screen display to provide visible feedback to
and accept input from a consumer; and I/O circuitry for allowing
the device to exchange communications with an external computer
such as server and/or client. Additional input circuitry, such as a
barcode reader, may also be utilized.
To control the operation of the device 10, the memory system
includes executable instructions that are intended to be executed
by the processor. In this manner, the processor may be programmed
to control the various electronic components within the device 10,
e.g., to monitor power, to cause the transmission of signals, etc.
Within the memory system, the ROM portion of memory is preferably
used to store fixed programming and data that remains unchanged for
the life of the product. The nonvolatile read/write memory, which
may be FLASH, EEPROM, battery-backed up RAM, "Smart Card," memory
stick, or the like, is preferably provided to store consumer
entered setup data and parameters, downloaded data, etc., as
necessary. RAM memory may be used by the processor for working
storage as well as to hold data items which, by virtue of being
backed up or duplicated on an external computer (for example, a
client device) are not required to survive loss of battery power.
While the described memory system comprises all three classes of
memory, it will be appreciated that, in general, the memory system
can be comprised of any type of computer-readable media, such as
ROM, RAM, SRAM, FLASH, EEPROM, or the like in combination.
Preferably, however, at least part of the memory system should be
non-volatile or battery backed such that basic setup parameters and
operating features will survive loss of battery power. In addition,
such memories may take the form of a chip, a hard disk, a magnetic
disk, and/or an optical disk without limitation.
For commanding the operation of appliances of different makes,
models, and types, the memory system may also include a command
code library. The command code library is comprised of a plurality
of command codes that may be transmitted from the device 10 under
the direction of the remote control application for the purpose of
controlling the operation of an appliance. The memory system may
also includes instructions which the processor uses in connection
with the transmission circuit to cause the command codes to be
transmitted in a format recognized by an identified appliance.
While the transmission circuit preferably utilizes infrared
transmissions, it will be appreciated that other forms of wired or
wireless transmissions, such as radio frequency, may also be
used.
To identify appliances by type and make (and sometimes model) such
that the remote control application of the device 10 is adapted to
cause the transmission of command codes in the format appropriate
for such identified appliances, information may be entered into the
device 10. Since methods for setting up a remote control
application to cause the transmissions of commands to control the
operation of specific appliances are well-known, they will not be
described in greater detail herein. Nevertheless, for additional
details pertaining to remote control application setup, the reader
may turn to U.S. Application No. 60/344,020 and U.S. Pat. Nos.
6,225,938, 4,623,887, 5,872,562, 5,614,906, 4,959,810, 4,774,511,
and 4,703,359 which are incorporated herein by reference in their
entirety. It should also be appreciated that these set-up methods
may be used to configure a personal computer to communicate with a
home appliance, for example, if the personal computer is
anticipated to use wireless communications to command the operation
of appliances in a home entertainment network such as described
below.
To cause the device 10 to perform an action, the device 10 is
adapted to be responsive to events, such as a sensed consumer
interaction with one or more keys on the key matrix, a sensed
consumer interaction with the touch screen display, or a sensed
signal from an external source such as a remote computer. In
response to an event, appropriate instructions within the memory
system are executed. For example, when a hard or soft command key
associated with the remote control application is activated on the
device 10, the device 10 may read the command code corresponding to
the activated command key from the memory system and transmit the
command code to an appliance in a format recognizable by the
appliance. It will be appreciated that the instructions within the
memory system can be used not only to cause the transmission of
command codes to appliances but also to perform local operations.
While not limiting, local operations that may be performed by the
device that are related to the remote control application include
favorite channel setup, macro button setup, command function key
relocation, etc. Examples of such local operations can be found in
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,481,256, 5,959,751, 6,014,092, which are
incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
As discussed, the platform of the device 10 preferably comprises a
general purpose, processor system which is controllable by
software. The software may include routines, programs, objects,
components, and/or data structures that perform particular tasks
that can be viewed as an operating system together with one or more
applications. The operating system, such as the "Windows CE" brand
operating system or the like, provides an underlying set of
management and control functions which are utilized by applications
to offer the consumer functions such as calendar, address book,
spreadsheet, notepad, Internet browsing, etc., as well as control
of appliances. Thus, it is to be understood that applications in
addition to or complimentary with the remote control application
can also be supported by the device 10 and, as such, in terms of
the internal software architecture, the "remote control"
application may be but one of several possible applications which
may co-exist within the device 10.
In terms of providing operating system functionality, it should
also be understood that the demarcation between the portable device
10 and a host/client computer, described in greater detail
hereinafter, may vary considerably from product to product. For
example, at one extreme the portable device 10 may be nothing more
than a slave display and input device in wireless communication
with a computer that performs all computational functions. At the
other extreme, the portable device 10 may be a fully-functional
computer system in its own right complete with local mass storage.
It is also to be appreciated that a hardware platform similar to
that described above may be used in conjunction with a scaled-down
operating system to provide remote control functionality only,
i.e., as a standalone application. In all cases, however, the
principles expressed herein remain the same.
To provide a means by which an consumer can interact with the
device 10, the device 10 is preferably provided with software that
implements a graphical user interface. The graphical user interface
software may also provide access to additional software, such as a
browser application, that is used to display information that may
be received from an external computer. Such a graphical user
interface system is described in pending U.S. Application Nos.
60/264,767, 60/334,774, and 60/344,020 all of which are
incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
For controlling the operation of one or more consumer appliances
12, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the universal remote control
application includes a remote control application. Features offered
by the remote control application may include a "home page" 20 from
which the user may select various functionalities such as, for
example, a device control panel 22, a "Favorites" page 24 (which
allows direct tuning to favorite program channels by logo/name), a
program guide display 26, etc. as illustrated in FIG. 2. While not
intended to be limiting, the program guide may be arranged in a
grid having a plurality of cells in which programming information
is contained where the cells are arranged in rows corresponding to
content providers and columns corresponding to times of day. The
program guide display 26 row indicators may be formatted using
channel names and/or numbers 38, as illustrated in FIG. 2, or
channel logos 39, as illustrated in FIG. 3, to identify soft keys
or hard keys (collectively referred to as "buttons") which the
consumer may activate in order to have the device 10 transmit the
appropriate remote control command(s) to cause an appliance to tune
to a channel corresponding to the labeled button. If used, the
channel logo graphics may be included as part of downloaded program
guide data, as will be described hereinafter, or the graphics may
be linked to and derived from the favorite channel display page(s)
24. It will also be appreciated that the program guide display 26
may be arranged in numerical or alphabetical sequence by channel,
by favorite channel (in the same sequence as they appear in a
favorite channels page 24), by program type or genre, etc.
Data for the program guide display 26 may be obtained over the
Internet 30 from a program guide database server 32 using a
personal computer 34 and docking station 36 as illustrated in FIG.
3. In such a system, the device 10 is periodically docked with the
docking station 36 for file synchronization purposes. Since
software for providing such synchronization functionality, e.g.,
Microsoft's ActiveSync brand synchronization software, is well
known and widely used in PDA applications, this functionality will
not be discussed in further detail herein.
To acquire guide data for use in connection with the remote control
application, an exemplary guide data acquisition process is
illustrated in FIG. 4. As illustrated, raw program guide data 40 is
generally available by subscription from entities such as, for
example, Tribune Media Services ("TMS"). A program guide data
server 32 is normally configured to access the TMS data on a
periodic basis, typically once every 24 hours, after TMS's nightly
update is complete. The raw guide data obtained from TMS may then
be formatted and stored into a local database 42 associated with
the Web server 32. Additional data, such as graphics 401, which may
be associated with program descriptions, special service
information, and/or advertising 402 (e.g., pay-per view), etc. may
also be obtained from third-party sources and combined into the
database 42 for later delivery to system users. It should also be
appreciated that, while the illustrated examples are in the context
of a TV program database sourced from TMS, in practice the
programming information stored in the server database 42 may be
obtained from several different sources and may span more than one
type of programming, for example, radio broadcast information,
Webcasts, etc. in addition to or as a substitute for TV schedule
information.
To obtain program guide information, a consumer may log onto the
Web server 32 using a personal computer 34 and any standard Web
browser such as, for example, Microsoft's Internet Explorer brand
Web browser. The Web server 32 identifies the consumer and their
preferences via a combination of log-in data stored in a
registration database 46 and/or a "cookie" stored on the consumer's
local hard drive. Referring to FIGS. 12-14, the first time the
consumer accesses the Web server 32 they may be asked to submit
information which includes a zip code 120, type of service 122
(e.g., cable, satellite, etc.), service provider 130 (e.g.,
DirectTV, Cox Cable, etc.) and level of service 140 (e.g., basic,
extended basic, premium, etc.). Based on this data, the consumer
could be presented with a complete channel line-up 144 for their
particular service tier and allowed to select which channels they
desire to be included in their guide display. Examples of selected
and unselected channels are shown at 146 and 148, respectively, in
FIG. 14.
In addition, the consumer may be requested to indicate how many
days of programming information 142 the consumer wishes to download
in each session. As these latter parameters are changed, an
indication of the estimated size of the file to be downloaded may
be displayed for the convenience of the consumer. This is
particularly advantageous for consumers that have slower, dial-up
communication lines with the Web server 32 in that they may
determine the extent of the program guide content to download
against download time.
The parameters established during this initial interaction with the
Web server 32 may then be stored in the registration
database/cookie and redisplayed whenever the consumer subsequently
accesses the site. Thus, during subsequent visits to the Web server
32, the consumer may accept all the parameter values "as is" or
make changes as desired. Certain of these parameters may also be
accumulated by the Web server 32 for statistical purposes (e.g.,
"How may cable subscribers in Irvine Calif. include MTV in their
program guide data?"). While described in terms of a consumer
manually accessing the Web server 32 using a Web browser to
retrieve the guide data, once the initial preference parameters are
obtained the process of downloading program guide data may be
automated. For example, the consumer's computer 34 can be
configured to automatically dial out via a PSTN or Internet at a
fixed time every night, at some predetermined time interval, etc.
to contact the Web server 32 and retrieve the guide data.
Based on the identity and preferences of a consumer, a Web server
interface 44 and related data extraction programs, illustrated in
FIG. 4, extract an appropriate subset of the program guide data
stored in the database 42 and format this extracted data into a
personal guide data file 48 for transfer to the consumer's computer
34 via the Internet 30. The transferred guide data file may include
program listing information originating from the program guide data
provider 40; supplemental graphics and/or advertising either
associated with particular programs or free standing (originating
from program graphics provider(s) 401); special channel service
information 402 (originating from the service provider of other
entities); etc. all of which may be individually tailored to the
consumer based on their specified preferences, service type, and/or
geographic location. Once located on the consumer's computer 34,
the file 48 can be automatically transferred to the device 10 via
the synchronization process the next time the device 10 is docked
with the computer 34.
The channel guide data downloaded to the portable device 10 may
include panels (individual entries), rows (horizontally across the
time axis), and/or columns (vertically along the channel axis) and
may include advertising or other information interspersed within or
overlaying the panels. As noted, advertising or other information
data may be inserted by the data extraction program of the Web
server 32 based on the preferences of a consumer, the specified
service type, the geographic location of the user, and/or data that
the service provider desires the consumer to be exposed to. In
addition, the guide display application on the portable device 10
may include the ability to lock one or more portions of the guide
display to a specific set or group of data. While the locked
portions may be unmovable by the consumer from a specified location
within the display or may dynamically change location based on the
manner that the consumer is interacting with the guide, it is
preferred that the locked portion remain visible to the consumer at
all times that the guide is being viewed.
By way of example, referring to FIG. 15, a subscriber to AT&T's
digital cable service in zip code area "90630" may receive a guide
data file which includes a data block permanently assigning the
bottom row 150 of the guide display to a pay-per-view channel. In
this example, as the consumer scrolls through the other channel
information 152 the display in area 150 remains in a fixed, visible
location so that the consumer is constantly able to directly access
the "In Demand" pay-per-view preview channel by touching the
AT&T logo button 154 (i.e., in response to a selection of the
soft key labeled "In Demand" the device 10 will be caused to
transmit the commands to access the service).
It is to be understood that the fixed portion of the guide 150 need
not be used to display only channels and/or program information by
may also be used to display other information, such as advertising
(e.g., an MSO may place an advertisement for its service into the
guide data of consumers that not note subscribe to cable).
Furthermore, the content in the fixed portion 150 need not be
static and may vary with time or channel. For example, within the
fixed portion 150 may appear information advertising a series of
specific shows or events, either upcoming or in progress,
information advertising goods for sale associated with or related
to a particular show or channel, etc. as illustrated in FIG. 16
(e.g., an advertisement 160 for goods associated with a particular
television program that is due to air shortly is shown). Still
further, this locked portion 150 may be embedded within the guide
data to persist over a given time period, for example, thirty
minutes before through thirty minutes after a show, or at such
other time(s) as the advertiser desires. The fixed portion 150 may
be associated with a button 162 to switch to a channel on which
more information regarding the merchandise is available, a button
to switch an appliance to some other channel, or the button 162 may
be omitted all together.
Turning now to FIG. 5, the program guide display 26 is preferably
configured such that, if the consumer touches a particular guide
listing, e.g., "Friends," a pop-up window 50 displays additional
information regarding the program. The pop-up window 50 may include
extended information 57 regarding the program and, in some
embodiments, may include supplemental graphics 58 which originated
from sources (401, 402) other than the provider of the raw guide
data 40. The pop-up window 50 may also include check boxes, or
other graphical user interface elements, such as menus or the like,
to accept user input. In the illustrated example, a check box 52
and a check box 54, which can be selected using conventional GUI
techniques, allow the consumer to either tag the program event for
future recording or to create a reminder entry in a calendar
application resident of the device 10 and/or computer 34.
By way of example, touching the "Record" check box 52 causes the
data regarding this program event (time, channel, duration, etc.)
to be entered into a recording schedule data file 62 (shown in FIG.
3) located within the device 10. To confirm the acceptance of the
recording request in the data file 63, the appearance of the check
box 52 may be caused to change 56. The device 10 may also perform
conflict resolution (e.g., to determine if there are any
overlapping requests) interactively at this level, or may simply
store all requests for later resolution by the recoding device. It
will also be appreciated that the data regarding the program event
may be stored as described above (date, time, channel) using one or
more compressed forms, as pointers into guide database entries in
the event the target recording appliance and the portable device 10
use a common data source for guide information, etc. It is also
desired to allow the consumer to remove recording request data from
the file for example, by returning to a program listing and
un-checking the box 52.
In certain embodiments, multiple recording appliances may be
supported via multiple recording schedule data files. In this
event, the device 10 may be configured to default to a particular
device (and its corresponding file) unless specified otherwise by
the consumer. To this end, additional check boxes, a pull-down
menu, or the like may be provided by which the consumer can specify
an intended target device. Thus, while the discussions herein have
assumed a single set of recording schedule data, those of skill in
the art will appreciated how to easily modify the teachings herein
so that multiple devices are supported via additional instances of
the data set.
Returning now to FIG. 3, the consumer's computer 34 may also
connected to a home network 64 which may be wired or wireless. In
such a case, also attached to the home network would be a
network-enabled appliance, for example, a ReplayTV 4000 brand
personal video recorder ("PVR") from Sonicblue Inc. When the
portable device 10 is docked with the computer 34 for file
synchronization, not only is any updated guide data 48 transferred
from the computer to the device 10, but the contents of the
recording schedule request file 62 could be transferred from the
device 10 to the computer 34. The recording request data 62 can
then be transferred from the computer 34 to the PVR 60 via the home
network 64. In this manner, a consumer may browse a device-based
program guide and enter recording requests wherever the consumer
happens to be located and these requests will be logged and
automatically transferred to the recording appliance at a later
time.
FIGS. 7 through 11 show alternative embodiments of networks
employing this principle. In FIG. 7, the device 10 is in wireless
communication with the computer 34, for example, as part of a
Bluetooth personal area network where the device 10 becomes active
when brought into the house. Such a configuration is also possible
using IEEE 802.11 technology. FIG. 8 shows how the device 10 may be
docked at a remote computer 80 (e.g. in the consumer's office)
which acquires the recording schedule request data and transfers it
via the Internet 30 to the consumer's home computer 34 where it is
processed as described previously. FIG. 9 shows a similar
arrangement except that in this case the office system includes a
wireless Internet gateway device 90 which is used by the device 10
to directly transfer the recording schedule request data to the
Internet 30 and thereby to the computer 34. FIG. 10 shows an
arrangement similar to FIG. 9 except in this case both ends are
equipped with wireless Internet gateways and the device 10
transfers the recording schedule request data directly to the
recording appliance 60. Still further, FIG. 11 shows a system in
which a recording appliance 110 is not network capable. In this
case, the device 10 transfers the recording schedule request data
directly to the recording appliance 110 when it is brought into
proximity to the recording appliance 110, using either infrared or
RF wireless communication. Transfer in this case may be manually
initiated by the consumer, triggered automatically (for example, by
the device 10 sensing it has been brought into range of a Bluetooth
personal area network of which the recording appliance 110 is also
a member), may be automatically initiated at a user-selected fixed
time each day, etc. While specific embodiments of the invention
have been described in detail, it will be appreciated by those
skilled in the art that various modifications and alternatives to
those details could be developed in light of the overall teachings
of the disclosure. For example, it will be appreciated that while a
PVR was utilized in the illustrative example set forth above, in
fact any appliance capable of recording program material, including
the computer itself, may be scheduled in this manner. In addition,
it will be appreciated that the device can be setup such that an
indication to a record a program can be accomplished by allowing a
consumer to directly select a program from the guide without the
need for providing a pop-up window or additional graphical user
interface selection elements. Accordingly, the particular
arrangement disclosed is meant to be illustrative only and not
limiting as to the scope of the invention which is to be given the
full breadth of the appended claims and any equivalents thereof.
All of the references cited herein are hereby incorporated by
reference in their entirety.
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